Latest Kickstarter Console 'GameStick' 75% Funded in Just 24 Hours

We’re only three days into 2013, yet already a new Android-powered, open-platform games device is the bulk of the way to getting funded via Kickstarter.

GameStick was only announced yesterday, yet already it has attracted over $75,000 worth of investment, only a brief push away from its $100,000 target with around a month left to go for wannabe users to pledge.

@Lior: Kickstarter is a great way to bring new ideas to the industry without big business ruining everything. The only other alternative is self-funding which requires loans, seed money, and a lot of time. Gamers are always saying they know what they want, Kickstarter is a chance to prove that and bring new stuff to us all. But I guess you love Activision, EA, and Capcom screwing everyone over right?

EA, Activision and Capcom haven't screwed me over. I buy what I want and pass on what I don't.

As for Kickstarter, I think it's a great idea. I don't understand how anyone can complain about it. Don't contribute if you don't want too, in the end you can still play it if you want. I am sure the Devs wouldn't hold a grudge against you for not donating to the gaming cause.

@Lior: Except your complaint wasn't specifically about consoles on kickstarter, it was just about kickstarter.

@Lvl_up_gamer: Oh believe me, they've screwed everyone over. You may have decided not to purchase certain games, or partake in certain practices, but they've set precedents for the Future and that effects everyone.

for people that still do not see it, these lil machines pack more power than the wii! That does not mean Game consoles will go away anytime soon. It just means that more competition, for consumer's money and Time.

the spec's of this lil game system are as follow's

Concept What you see is what you get. Well as the name suggests, GameStick is a 2-inch console not bigger than your USB flash drive that supports up to four controllers connected at once and can connect to gamepads, mouse and keyboard. This makes it much more compact than the OUYA, which was compared to being as big or small as the Rubik's Cube in terms of design. With this product, PlayJam seeks to combine the open source mobile platform with a closed console and bring that experience to your TV sets. The aim is to have no clunky hardware or entangling wires.

Specs Coming to the console's specifications, the GameStick will run on Android Jelly Bean and pack an Amlogic 8726-MX processor (which is a dual-core Cortex A9 chip at 1.5GHz, along with a dual-core Mali 400 GPU at 400MHz), 1GB RAM and 8GB of flash storage, while using Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11b/g/n for connectivity. It will also be capable of full-HD (1080p) video decoding.

The GameStick has a comparatively lower processor than the OUYA console, which features an NVIDIA quad-core Tegra 3 processor for faster speeds. PlayJam CEO Jasper Smith clarifies that the specs should be more than enough to handle today's leading Android games.

The underpowered processor is said to have been chosen owing to the console's power and heat requirements as well as its extremely portable form factor.

to put this in perspective:

dual-core Mali 400 GPU at 400MHz this benchmark test and this is a Quad core Mali 400 @ 200 Mhz, and 300 Mhz

Gaming titles As of now, creators of GameStick are looking at about 200 titles from a pool of 700,000 Android games that would be great to play on the console. BUt the company is also working closely with over 250 developers from studios such as Madfinger, Hutch, Disney and others to offer the best gaming experience to users.

Pricing Those who back the GameStick project for $79 or more are promised a GameStick (console + controller) bundle along with a name check and founders tag. (Users outside US will have to pay $15 extra as shipping charges)

The device is priced at a mere $79, that's $20 cheaper than the OUYA console. Will users get to see the final product? We'll know soon.

OUYA which raised $8 million inf funding from Kickstarter, is slated for a March release this year, that's one month ahead of GameStick assuming both stick to their schedules. Currently, there are 19 confirmed Ouya games to come with the console along with approximately 300 OnLive games and 80 games confirmed by Ouya themselves.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, are you watching this?

the speed these are releasing is at a frantic pace, quite a bit faster than i would think Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony would like. the point is since systems like OUYA, and Game stick are using the same type of ARM Cortex chipset's with the same types of ON the Die GPU's porting to each platform is quite fast.

Android IS NOW, and i would imagine Apple is soon to follow with a iOS based game console soon enough for the living room smart TV's. this is the challenge that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are going to be facing. That does not include companies like samsung making these chipset's inside the very LCD TV's people buy for their daily usage.

"Seems kinda pointless because you have to have an overpriced smart tv which not many people have"

no what this will enable to do is turn a LCD TV into a smart TV!

you see this like many of these devices are in a basic level a single board computer, that is every thing on board is Embedded, except for the extra Micro SD expansion TF cards you can put into these devices, and Power through the HDMI!

Having any LCD TV or LED TV with HDMI imput from external devices such as you would already do with your PS3,XBOX360 or Nintendo WiiU or Blu-Ray or Upscaling DVD player already.

it does not need a Smart TV to be able to use this or the OUYA or other Android Powerd "Mini Game console systems" all you need is a TV with HDMI imput and for online play to have a internet connection to use applications such as HULU,NETFLIX,and online network games.

Yes ouya is hdmi and I'm all for that, this on the other hand if you read the article is usb and plugs into your smart tv, and no even If your normal lcd tv has a usb port it won't work because there's no software to recognize the flash drive other then for firmware updates of the tv

HDMI will be how it connects to your TV @ when it goes to final production.

Watch out Ouya, a new Android-based games console has made its debut on Kickstarter, and it's called the GameStick. Developed by PlayJam, the GameStick is a thumb drive-sized device that plugs directly into your TV via HDMI and promises an open-source games platform that challenges the traditional console publishing model. Unlike the Ouya, which is intended to be a compact set-top box, the GameStick emphasizes portability.